Oluwole residents protest breach of agreement

Hundreds of residents and shop owners in Oluwole area of the Lagos Island Local Government yesterday protested the alleged breach of agreement by the state government. The agreement was reached more than eight years ago.

Surrounded by policemen, the residents and traders carried placards bearing their messages to the concerned authority.

They blamed “some people within the corridor of power” of trying to influence Governor Akinwunmi Ambode to renege on the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with former Governor Bola Tinubu.

Leader of the community Alhaji Abdul Baqee Yemisi-Coker told The Nation that since the buildings and shops were destroyed nine years ago, the government asked members to turn space to a temporary car park.

Yemisi-Coker said: “It was the government that asked the Oluwole people to be making use of the place. Instead of the allowing it to be vacant for growing of weeds and hoodlums haven pending the time the government concluded plans to use it for a big project.

“But we realise that there are some people in the corridor of power are trying to hijack this place. They want to be operating the car park which is being operated by the members of the community. We have been using it as car parks since nine years ago immediately the place was demolished. So some people just came about three days ago. They claim to have the backing of the government and drove everybody away. They brought some people in uniform to be operating the car park. We decided to challenge it because it was the immediate past administration that put us here. If the government want to retain the authority they gave to you, they should go through the same process it was given not through the back door. And there are some other important issues that have to be ironed out.

“The land and that Oluwole Urban Mall belong to the Oluwole Community and there is a MoU to that effect.

“We know Governor Ambode is a man with listening hears. We have asked him to call for the file and when he goes through it, he will know what to do. The agreement we reached with the government was not with any officer, it was former Governor Tinubu that led the government team to the negotiating table. And I led the Oluwole team. So, I know what I am saying.”

You have the right to freedom of expression but if you infringe on the law in the process, the person will be arrested and charged accordingly.

A former fabric seller, Mrs Kafilat Remilekun, urged the government to allow the traders return to the place.

“We all voted for him. We want him to leave us and let us continue our business,” she said.

Mrs Yetunde Mumini, an indigene, who sells Charcoal in the market before driven away, wants a quick resolution to the land issue.